I'm one of those exciting college students who does exciting college things like reading books and talking to professors about the more profound things in life. But perhaps that is an not entirely accurate oversimplification; I'm a junior at Ohio Wesleyan University who adores our campus whilst majoring in German and English. I tutor German for the Modern Foreign Languages department and am the fall president of the Medieval and Renaissance Recreational Combat Association.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

It’s only the first week back, and I feel surrounded by a homely chaos. I have two papers due next week, numerous emails I need to be sending even as I type this, homework to read through for tomorrow and Friday, books that need to be bought, practices to plan, a National Colloquium team to organize, and probably twenty other things that have entirely gone out to lunch for the moment. (Such as needing to get my paperwork updated for continuing as a German tutor; good thing I can take note of all of this at the moment instead of just forgetting it all!)

One sincere plus of today is the rain we got, however little it was, since we’ve had barely anything worth mention for nearly two months now. I still needed to water my plants this morning, as several of them had soil that was dried rather more than I was hoping it would have by now. (Bother with aridity and heat and such.)

This is just about the messiest I want the room to get. Just about. Maybe a little more.

I only brought the bare minimum when it comes to me having tea. Really.

The new stairs and walkway and fancy wall too tall and awkward to sit on are complete!! I add this shot to my “collection” of shots exactly like this save in different seasons. Yeah, I’m cool and obviously original like that.

Next week I will perhaps I will spend some time talking about my National Colloquium project. Until then, tschuess!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Just a few more days, and classes at OWU will be off to yet another roaring start. Until then I have plenty to keep me occupied; I’ve been working until 5-ish every day, and I’ve packed next to nothing for moving in this weekend. I’ll at least have Thursday off, and perhaps Friday, depending how things work out, so hopefully that will suffice for packing and getting those last cups of tea in with my oma before I’m off. I also need to get a few club things in order; since I’m this year’s MARRCA president, I need to email the other executives to plan our first meeting, how we’ll deal with the club fair, and a few other things. I also need to spruce up our club poster, which needs some updating and love to show how awesome MARRCA truly is.Beyond that it’s mostly been mundane garden care due to this outstandingly dry weather we’ve been having; I find it sickening every time I hear the local weather man announce yet another “beautiful” day. How a dreadfully hot day after a long string of dreadfully hot days is beautiful, I may never know. I would take a rainy day any time.

German Word: A sonnig(sunny) day is usually considered schoen(pretty), but I’d take a day that’s verregnet(rainy) any time.

In place of pictures, a “packing for OWU” music mix for your listening pleasure:

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Today Delaware airport held an airshow! (I think it ran for a couple other days, but we came today, so…) My 88 year old neighbor Ed loves planes and used to fly a few himself, so we loaded him up in the car and headed out. (Ask him about the time he almost ran into something; there’s several versions, but he’s an amusing storyteller, even when he gets the stories all mixed up.) Ed had an outstanding time, looking at all the planes, wondering over their engines, their power. He kept insisting he needed to just have a few hours, and he’d have one of the planes he was most familiar with up in the air, just like he used to. Instead he mostly just talked with several of the owners, and even got what he says was his first chance to really see a helicopter up close. (Whether this is true or not, time may only know.) The pilot was very kind, helping Ed to sit in one of the two seats it had, explaining everything Ed wanted to know. (Ed tossing in not a few of his rather endearing “Good night!” exclamations at some of the information.)

Later on we got to see a model of the engine the Wright brothers used on their 1903 plane, as well as a to-scale model of their 1905 plane. Along with this model they had several little displays oriented to the younger crowd in hopes of sparking their interest in planes. Amongst these was a flight simulator for how the Wrights would fly their 1903 model, and Ed, who was reading a book on the Wright’s plane at the time, was ecstatic at getting a chance to try it out. There’s something interesting in an 88 year old man lying on his stomach, attempting to steer a projected image of a plane around the screen.

German Word: One of my all-time favourite German phrases has to be “Ich kann fliegen!!!!”, meaning “I can FLY!” I highly suggest shouting this before madly flapping one’s arms about for best results.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Mount Vernon had their Dan Emmett Days again, but this year I was unfortunately less than thrilled. Mickey Dolenz of Monkees fame graced the stage with his preseance, but he seems a shadow of what fame he once held. His performance felt very rehearsed, and rather than having a good time, he seemed only to want to name-drop all the big-names of yesteryear and some of today. The show would not be worth mention had his sister Coco not taken the stage; the first song she sang was perfect for her voice, and was the best of the show (well, the part I saw before leaving, anyway.) She sang another song, though it was not a good choice for her voice, but she still managed to entertain more than Mickey. Maybe something better next time around.

German Word: In English, if one were to say “I have an earworm.” Those around one would most likely think one either very eccentric or more than a bit off. In German, however, “Ich habe einen Ohrwurm ” is about the same as saying one has a song stuck in his/her head.

Pictures

At least I got this shot that somehow makes Mickey look pretty cool. What’s he hiding under that hat he wears all the time, anyway?

Friday, August 1, 2008

Nothing terribly exciting this week; I went to work for Star Turbines moving around filing boxes with dust roughly as old as I am on them and ran around the Polaris area in a mad search for a ring my mother’s been wanting for her birthday present. One Amazon.com shopping experience later, and it’s in the mail. (A little late, but it’s only in part a gift from me, and my other items are on-time, so I don’t feel bad about it.) Classes lurk just around the corner, and I’ve started thinking more on what I want to drag back to the uni with me, how it will work with my roommate, and if there are things that I can hold off bringing until it’s colder and we’re more settled. (I’m still not sure if I want to haul a six-foot tall papyrus plant up three flights of stairs for a winter home. I’ll just have to see how heavy it is in its new pot, and how much room we end up having, I guess.)

German Word: I would recommend ambling around the OWU campus. One way to say “to amble” is zotteln. Heute zotteln wir um OWU! (Today we’re ambling around OWU!)

Pictures:More from my trip around campus during the carshow; mostly a tour of a few pretty spots a visitor to OWU might consider that are not necessarily on main campus. (Meaning right around the dorms and academic area that tours usually cover. Off the beaten tour path, shall we say.)

I love this plant. I have no idea what it is, though I think it *might* be related to hydrangea (a.k.a. “hat plant”, see the 1960s for details.) They’re in several locations around campus, but this one is right next to the admissions office. So pretty whilst in bloom.

Day lilies are a staple of simple, beautiful gardening, I think. They were looking cheery along the J walk despite being entirely ignored by passersby.

This lovely little garden has more blooms in it than one would expect. It even has an herb section that is rather impressive! (The dill is insane and is probably six or seven feet tall!) Beautiful, and a nice resting spot or place to clear one’s mind near Austin Manor.

I couldn’t resist taking a few shots of the different plants featured.

Another little garden I adore; this one obviously belongs to one of the local churches (hence the cross incorporated into the architecture.) It’s a beautiful little spot, with the lushes, greenest, most inviting grass. Several well-tended Japanese maples, a small waterfall, and other elements work together to make this a peaceful, harmonious memorial garden. It’s always exciting to walk around Delaware and find these ‘hidden’ nooks and enjoy the experiences they offer.